Happy New Year, everyone.

"The world comes to Roosevelt Avenue, more than 100 blocks long, where more than 120 languages are spoken."

From the December 23, 2013 New York Times article, Immigrants Send Gifts Away, To Those Close At Heart, by Sarah Maslin Nir.

Was it everything you thought it'd be?

Even at 30, it's interesting to learn new things about myself and what I'm capable of...

Life is so great.

Dear Apple Store in SOHO,

Why do you block access to VICE.com when using your store's wifi?

Thanks.

-Thwany

I just want to connect.

"I am the child of alcoholics. Two alcoholics actually, but more importantly my mother. And I was 11 when my parents became alcoholics and my sister was 14. And my younger sisters were I guess, Haley 4 years younger than me and Amy 5 years. I believe that nobody has the same parents, that you're born into a family at a different time, that your parents relate to you differently depending on what your personality is and how they connect. I was 11 when this happened, and I really had much more time to live in that house. And when you're the child of an alcoholic, you are worried all the time. All you think about is, are they going to start drinking tonight? My parents were---this was the hardest thing I wrote in the book by far writing about my mother---and I felt it was so important because of the isolation you have as a child like this. You're always keeping the family secrets and I just, don't keep them---I really feel passionately about that. So I became someone who was always trying to figure out what was going to happen. I was a watcher. I was on hyper-alert. Were they going to fight tonight? Were they going to drink tonight? What did that movement mean? Why did she pour the glass so quickly? Why did she drink it so quickly? Why did she throw the jacket over that chair in that particular angry way? What did it all mean? And what happens is you grow up, and you're still worrying. You're still knowing that when you're looking left that something is coming at you from the right. So you're trying to look two directions at once which we know is completely impossible as we all know. But those things you develop as a child, these survival things---they hang on. And they stay in your life. And I really needed to write a lot about that to sort of exorcise the demons of it."

Said by Delia Ephron in her NPR Fresh Air interview from December 9, 2013.

This is so relatable that it's giving me goosebumps.

Sometimes, you just want to listen to Sade and stare out a window.

On the rocks, please.

Writing takes time.

Last night, my closest friends and I went out for our holiday dinner. 

I first went to Astoria right after work to chill at my friend Susy's house for a little, and then we headed back into the city together. We met the rest of our friends in TriBeCa, and the six of us started our evening at Khe-Yo, which is NYC's first stand-alone Laotian restaurant ever. The entire dinner was super great, and we all stuffed ourselves with so much awesome food. Then we ended up to Koreatown and sang our hearts out for endless soju and hour-after-hour of drunken Karaoke.

I love you guys, thanks for such a great night.

After purchasing Beyoncé's new album, I can't figure out if I should first experience the music by listening to it or watching all the music videos.

I just want to dance until the sun comes up.

Can't write.

Can't sleep.

Can't focus.

Feeling so useless.

..................................................................

Power.

Words are precious.

It's funny when people who have no idea about what the fuck they're talking about act like they do.

It feels great to be back home for the holiday season.

As cheesy as it sounds, Christmastime in NYC is my ultimate favorite time of year. Things in the city just seem so full of wonder when December hits, and I love everything about it. Holiday decorations, overplayed Christmas songs, and the smell of pine needles from Christmas trees for sale on the sidewalks of every other block waft through to the senses. The mood and energy of things just feel different. This lingering sense of there's so much to look forward to clings to the day, making everything so much more pleasant and enjoyable.

It's funny though that the end of the year is even almost here. It was exactly one year ago today that I left Thailand for good, and man, what a year it's been.

Here's to all of us finishing off 2013 in the best way possible!

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"You used to take your watch off,
before we made love.
You didn't want to share our time, 
with anyone."

From the song Trojan Horse by Bloc Party.

Huh?

What dreams?

Peace.

Seriously.

Christine and Ray were just in from Chicago, and it was so great seeing them!

Friday night was a good ass time for us all.

Lazy Saturdays are very necessary.

"I will love you unconditionally,
There is no fear now,
Let go and just be free,
I will love you---unconditionally."

From the song Unconditionally by Katy Perry.

We all deserve to have a companion in life.

Always see for yourself.

I need a career.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I'm thankful for so many things.

It's funny how I spent the holiday completely alone last year in Bangkok, and now I'm back home in NYC surrounded by my friends, and planning to go to a holiday dinner with my sister and brother-in-law tomorrow at a relative's place.

One thing all this has truly taught me is that no matter what rough or challenging period of life you're going through, it will pass. Whether it be physically or mentally, you will at one point no longer be in that exact place or situation, and that alone is usually enough to keep me going through any trials of life.

It's really so great to be back for the holidays, and I hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving with lots of food, gratitude, laughter---and even a little bit of obligatory family dysfunction.

Happy Turkey Day!

"I thought I found a way to enter,
It was just a reflector..."

From the song Reflektor by Arcade Fire.

Heart.

I'm currently living in Greenwich Village for a little while with a friend named Thomas.

His entire 18th floor apartment overlooking the old St. Vincent's Hospital is really amazing---and even the living room alone is enough to invoke so much emotion.

Thank you, Thomas.

Hello.

This moment is fleeting, and I can't figure out if that's good or bad.

I'm here to listen.

Put the crazy-volume on mute.

"It is easy to drive past Willets Point, the 62-acre tangle of auto shops, car parts and grease covered mechanics tinkering with automobiles, that sits hard by the Unisphere of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Passing by is far easier than driving through: The streets that cross each other at odd angles here in the glossy shadow of Citi Field looks as if they has been blasted by land mines. They are pooled with dar, oil-slicked water or rutted with knee-deep holes that suck in a car's tires. The chalkboard scrape of chassis meeting pavement sounds through the air here with the regularity of a bell tolling the hour."

From the November 23, 2013 New York Times article, The End of Willets Point, by Sarah Maslin Nir.

The room is still spinning...

*Mental Cartwheels*

I sure do appreciate the weekend.

Triple Stack Pink Supermans.

Whenever I come to Queens, it feels like I'm back home.

Dear friends,

My first food story for VICE magazine was published earlier today.

Please give it a read if you have the time: SOJU IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SOUTH KOREANS PASSED OUT ON THE STREET

Thank you very much.

best,
thwany

Mutter. Utter. Stutter. Butter?

You've got to grow up and try.

Some people's version of reality is so deluded and over dramatic---you really just can't trust idiots like them at all.

Hot yoga at 6:30am makes me feel sane.

It's only Tuesday?

Family Meal is the best.

Requisite.

"Do you dance, do you dance?
To the beat of life..."

From the song Beat of Life by Anything Box.

"Meanwhile, millions of American live tenuously close to hunger, which is barely kept at bay by a food stamp program that gives most beneficiaries just a little more than $4 a day."

From the November 16, 2013 New York Times opinion piece, The Insanity of Our Food Policy, by Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Referring to yourself as a foodie doesn't mean shit.

Thick skin.

Now that I think about it, I made a lot of mistakes while dating in my 20's.

Being able to learn from life lessons is so humbling.

It doesn't exist.

Last night was one of those Saturdays with endless bar-hopping and fun. Too bad I stopped taking pictures after stop 4.